On time, message transmission and quantum phenomena
How long does it take for a package sent by mail to arrive from Tel Aviv to New York? How long does it take for an e-mail message to get from one end of the Weizmann Institute of Science campus in Rehovot to the other? The (intuitive) reason allows that the package will take more time than the electronic message. But it seems that intuition is not necessarily the right way to examine durations. this perception She won the last one for a surprising boost in the research they carried out Prof. Eli Polak and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Thom Rivlin from the Department of Chemical and Biological Physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with Prof. Randall Dumont from McMaster University in Canada.
One of the fascinating quantum phenomena is the "tunneling" phenomenon, according to which a quantum particle can penetrate and pass through a seemingly impassable barrier. This phenomenon has been studied for about nine decades. In the 60s of the last century, Thomas Hartmann showed another strangeness of the phenomenon: the length of the "tunnel" through which the particle passes from one side of the barrier to the other can increase, but the transit time remains constant. The meaning of this claim is that a particle that performs tunneling may move faster than light (if, for example, it passes a very "thick" obstacle); Which is not possible according to the theory of special and general relativity. The result of this calculation, which was based on the principles of "normal" quantum theory, did not bother the physicists too much, since it was clear that "normal" quantum theory was not expected to coincide with relativity.
This result will "work out", many believed, if and when the calculations are carried out using relativistic quantum theory. Prof. Eli Pollack and his research partners recently performed such a calculation, which was based on the relativistic quantum theory developed by Paul Dirac, and which shows a way that apparently makes it possible to have quantum phenomena in the world of special relativity.
The calculation revealed that even under relativistic quantum theory, there still exists, apparently, a situation where the "successful speed" of a particle in the process of tunneling is constant, regardless of the length of the tunnel (or the thickness of the barrier being exploited). Theoretically (at least) this result suggests that given a very long barrier, a situation may arise in which the particle that tunnels through the barrier (at a constant speed) will move faster than another particle that moves in open space, without interference, at the limit of the speed of light.
Does this result mean that we will soon be able to perform various processes (for example, sending messages by e-mail) at a speed higher than the speed of light? To the disappointment of many (and to the relief of many others) it seems that the answer to that is no. Prof. Polk explains the reason for this: "The chance that a particle will tunnel is not great to begin with, and it decreases at an exponential rate as the length of the tunnel or the thickness of the obstacle that it is required to pass increases. In other words, the chance that a particle will pass through a long enough obstacle that ensures that the constant speed is achieved will cause the particle to move faster than light, it is very close to zero... therefore it is recommended for anyone who wants to transfer information from one place to another, to choose the path which maintains the speed limit of light".
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